The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1887-11-12
IN THE World OF LABlR.
spcially Compiled for the To,ler,by an Ad.
vocate Man


Engine l34 on the Reading railroa
recently made mile in ihlriy-seven So
conds.
The business outlook is very promising
in fact, much better than IL has for som
time past.
"A band composed Of striking miners ha
been travelling over the country and meet
ing with much success.
The number Of strikes reported durin
the past month foot up over nine thousand
many Of which have proven total failures.
There are now 10000 nautical mile
of wire cable laid. The wire manufacturer
throughout the United States and tirea
Britain were never buster than at the pre-
sent time.
Twenty employees in the scrap-iron de
partment of the Reading Iron Works Forg,
went on strike recently on account of
proposed reduction of 80 cents per ton il
their wages.
The mechanics lin York State hay,
started an educational association to bool
themselves up in machinery matters. The
suggestion is wisely made that mechapic'
elsewhere should do the same,
For the week ending on the 5th inst.
there were 1853 tons Of coal shipped oveI
the l.. & s. R.R.,a total to date of 4,104, 73S
tons, showing an decrease as compared with
same date last year of 80, 144 tons.
CONSUMERS of coal who may he CON-
PEELED to pay increased prices for their fuel
In consequence of the fresh rise lately es-
tabllshed by the coal barons must not sup
pose this results from scarcity or other un-
avoldable necessity On the contrary, il
has its Origin solely in the greed of the coal
kings.
The number of foreign skilled and un.
skilled laborers who come to this country
in the spring and return in the fall is yearly
increasing, In the building trades in large
cities there are quite number of men who
pursue this course. They make enough
money in the season to live without work
at home
during the last few months the work
Of railway building has been going on in
the United States at rate never before
equaled. From January to November !.
274 roads haye laid total Of 040S miles Of
track. More tract has been laid so far this
year than in the year 1886, and more than
is shown by the record of all other Years
in the history Of this or any olher coun-
try.
Very careful thinkers Oh the labor
question do not believe that cooperation
will suppant competition at an early day.
Productive cooperation has made very
little progress anywhere. Brains and Or
ganizing ability are scarce, and such
servises will always raise high. So long as
there shall be only one in thousand who
possesses the proper managing ability and
foresight so long will the other 300 occupy
the relation of employees under one name or
another Exchange.
SO far this year nearly 10000 miles of
main line and side track, including repairs,
have been laid. Raimakers have had to
drop their prices from $40 to $34, and they
are now much disturbed oyer the rumors
that some of the syndicate haye reduced
prices to $685. The production of steel rails
this year will be over 1000, 900 tons. Next
year promises TO be very active one in
railroad circles, and in bridge-building, car
work and locomotive work the output will
be beyond all precedent.
There must be no Stacking off in pro-
vidiDg the means to support the men in the
Lehigh region. This battle is for the work.
ingmen Of the whole coal region, not only
they alone, but the whole business comuni-
ty. 1t Is, in fact, a fight for fair distr-
button of the wealth that lies in the bo-
som of our mountains. A struggle wheth-
er few coal kings shall revel in its posses
sion and fill their Golfers to oyeraowing whie
the workingman suffers for the want of
llfe's necessaries and the business commune
ty struggles on amid difficulties to keep its
head above water, and all that few rich
nabobs may still grow richer. .-Tr- Weekly
Record.
If the wealth producers of the world
had refused in the past to strike for their
rights. what would be the condition of the
producing masses to day? After all is said,
there is virtue in and benefit derived from
strikes. when there is just cause for strik-
ing. 1t is the duty of all individually and
TO strike for the right, TO strike
against wrong doing in industry and in poll
tics. The sensible, reasonable strikers are
the salt Of the earth. The man who won't
strike for his rights unless he is guaranteed
protection and support beforehand, is a
poltroon. No reform is secured, no wrong
righted, no liberty and justice established
without sacrifice and suffering. Snch is the
history of the civilized world; such is the
history of our industrial relations. "The
blood Of the martyrs is the seed of the
church."
Grand Master Workman Powderly has
sent outa circular asking aid for the strik-
ing miners. He remarks thusly I'VE
read of the heartrending scenes of eviction
as practiced in Ireland. We are told of
the terrible work of the crow-bar brigade,
which levels homes, sewers broken loving
hearts forever, and drives dear ones from
homes and kindred across the sea. None
of these scenes can outrlyal the acts of
cruelty that are practiced every day in the
scourged, misery middle coal fields
of Pennsylvania. In the most prosperous
times the miner and his family live from
hand TO mouth, scarce able to keep body
and soul in unison. Notwithstanding all
this no law is broken, no offense Of any
kind is committed. A more honest, in
dustrious, moral or patriotic people does not
inhabit any portion of our country; no more
manly men exist than our coal miners. |,
who have spent all my life among them,
can and do cheerf1lly bear tribute to the